Journal

Going Nowhere

When I first came out to India at the back end of 2009, wife and child in tow, we were fairly sure that circumstances were going to dictate that we return to the UK after about three years, towards the end of 2012. A quick look at that and you can see that, actually, I’m about halfway through that period. Time has both flown and crawled, in queasily equal measure. If I take a step back and view the whole thing, it feels like it’s gone in the blink of an eye, but as soon as I focus on particular months I can see that, at the time, some were tough going and felt like they were never going to end. I suppose that’s the trick that time is constantly playing on you.

And as it turns out, it will have a little longer to do so in Delhi than was originally planned. Thanks to some good news my wife received late on Thursday night, that three year period looks like it’s going to be closer to five. We’re delighted. Job security in the UK has taken a massive nose dive since we came out here, and with just eighteen months to go we were both starting to look back at what might be waiting for us in the UK with increasing trepidation. Kirsty’s news, and the chance to extend our time out here, means that we can put off those worries for a while, and hope things pick up again in time for our eventual homecoming. All good stuff, and one increasing weight lifted from our shoulders in the short term.

Three years was starting to feel like too little time to get to know this city, this country, before moving on. Perhaps now, when we do go, we’ll be more confident in saying yes, I knew that place, and it started to feel like home. I’ll report back in a few years, and let you know if that is so.